


Periodical

by acid_and_oil (orphan_account)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-25 22:55:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12046026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/acid_and_oil
Summary: Adrien wakes up after a strange Akuma attack. Exactly how long has it been?





	Periodical

Beep…beep…beep

Adrien heard the sound in his ears before he even opened his eyes. What happened? Was he about to DE-transform? He knew he had to get out of there. He tried to get up, only to feel a pull at his left arm. 

“Adrien is waking up. Please come here as soon as you can”.

Adrien finally opened his eyes, blinking in the bright light. Someone must have noticed this, and the lights were then dimmed. Adrien looked around. He was in a white bed. There were green curtains surrounding it, and he was hooked up to an IV and a machine. He knew now. He was in the hospital. 

Xxx  
The akuma-tized victim held out her claw-like hand. A jet of green liquid shot out of it. 

“Ladybug! Look out!”

There was terrible buzzing sound. Ladybug had her hands clasped tightly over her ears. There was no way to warn her. Chat Noir had to leap in front of her, he had to protect his Lady.

 

Xxx  
Adrien knew he had to get out of there. He wasn’t quite sure what happened, but he was feeling fine now, and he had to get back to Ladybug and help defeat the akuma.

He addressed the nurse. “Excuse, me I appreciate your help, but I feel fine now, can I go?” His voice sounded weak and strange to his own ears, and using it felt exhausting. 

The nurse looked at him with warm, sad eyes. Her voice was tender, but quaked when she spoke. “oh, Adrien. I’m just here to take your vitals. I’ve already called your father and the doctor, they can fill you in on what’s going on, and figure out what happens next.”

 

Adrien decided that he would comply, and then transform and leave as soon as he was alone. Adrien couldn't remember much, but he knew there had been an akuma. 

Oh no. He was hit as Chat Noir, wasn’t he? He could remember a beam of some sort headed for his lady. He had sped in front of it, he had shielded her! Did this mean that the hospital knew who he was? Did the rest of the world know? Oh,no, did his father know? He would never be able to be Chat Noir again. 

The nurse wrapped a pressure cuff around his right arm. Adrien looked at his arm, and then followed his down to wrist, then his hand, and his fingers.

His bare ring finger.

“Where is it? What did you do with it? I need to go back out there, I need to help her, I need-”

Xxx

Beep…beep  
This time, Adrien knew where he was without opening his eyes. Surely the machine monitoring him could tell he woke up again, but he kept his breathing even, and his eyes shut. He could here whispers.

“I thought you said he woke up! This is not awake”

“He woke up about an hour ago, along with the others. I had to sedate him. He was screaming and pulling at his IV and catheter tubes, he was hurting himself-”

“Sedate him!” The man was still speaking in a hushed tone, but it was harsher and slightly louder than before. “My son was already asleep for-”

“Dad?” Eves dropping for information be damned, his dad actually cared enough for him to show up in person, even if it was an hour after he woke up.

“Dad, your here! I’m so glad your here! What happened? There was an akuma?”

Gabriel went straight to his son’s side. He held the boy tight. He buried his head in his son’s shoulder, and shuddered. 

“Dad, are you crying? It’s okay, Dad, I’m okay.” Adrien wondered again what happened, and if his dad knew he was Chat Noir. Surely if did, he would be more angry than sad? Gabriel didn’t look angry. He looked like hell. The already slender man looked even thinner, his hair limp, and eyes bloodshot.

He knew he needed to get his ring back, and get back there. “Excuse me, I’m feeling much better, can I please just the stuff that I came here with, like my jewelry and my phone, and leave? I just want to go home with my dad.”

The nurse exchanged a private look with Gabriel Agreste. 

“What’s going on?”

“Adrien. I’m glad you are awake.That being said, this is a delicate situation, and I am not always the best at- delicacy. I’m going to leave now to speak to your doctor. I’ll leave you here with your care-taker. She is very capable and caring, when she’s not drugging you up without my consent. I’ll see you later, my son”.

The elder Agreste left the green curtained area. Adrien could hear him take more steps, and then open and close another door behind him. It seemed like the room around the curtain area was bigger than he thought. I must have a roommate, Adrien thought. Maybe he could talk to them later, and figure out what was going on.

The care-taker seemed nice enough. She was pretty quiet, and kept watching Adrien with those sad eyes. He had to get her out of the room, though, so he could find his ring and get out of the hospital.

“Miss? Could I please have a glass of water? My throat is pretty scratchy”.

The woman gave a small smile. “I’m sorry, you can’t have any water until the doctor clears it. You can suck on a couple of ice chips. I’ll be right back.”

As soon as the caretaker left the curtain, Adrien pulled his IV needle out, and unscrewed the part of the catheter tube that connected it to the waste bag. There was no way he was ripping that one out, he’d just have to carefully carry the tubing while he looked, and deal with the removal later. Adrien swung his legs around off of the edge of the bed, when the woman came back. Of course.

“Oh Adrien! What are you doing! You aren't supposed to be getting up right now. Although,” she frowned a little, “it is impressive that you were able to sit up like that at all.”

“Look, if I can’t leave, can you please tell me what happened? I have friends who were there when the akuma attacked, and I need to know if they are alright.”

The woman concentrated. She looked like she was carefully figuring out what she should say. 

“There was an Akuma. Ladybug brought you and the other three people who were hit to a hospital. You were all sleeping, and you all woke up after she used her magic ladybug cure. Ladybug said to tell you that she has your ring, and is keeping it safe.”

Adrien let the information tumble around in his brain for a little while. Ladybug had his ring, It was safe. The Akuma was purified. Ladybug knew who he was! It seemed like nobody else knew. The other people who were hit were okay now.

“Wait. Why would Ladybug bring people to the hospital? Her and Chat Noir usually just wait for the glowing ladybug thing to cure everyone”

“Oh, Adrien, I wish it had been that simple this time. It was kind of an unusual Akuma”. It looked like tears were threatening to spill over the rims of her bright eyes.

A man in a white coat walked in, along with Gabriel. It must be the doctor. Adrien wondered why it had taken a doctor so long to get here in the hospital. Adrien felt fine, and would rather have the doctor help people who needed it more. He was just eager to get the all-clear and leave, even if Ladybug had defeated the akuma.

The caretaker ran out the curtain, her face in her hands. If Adrien had been paying attention, he would have noticed that she did not open the main door to leave.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Adrien was in and out of sleep for the next two weeks or so. He never left the small curtained off area. His meals were brought to him, and he would receive visits from his father, and from the doctor on occasion. 

Adrien’s head was swimming, and he could barely understand what was going on around him. When he did have moments of clarity, the woman that he had originally thought was a nurse, the woman his father had referred to as his care-taker was there, talking to him, keeping him company and asking him questions. 

Adrien was doing constantly a lot better these days. His mind felt clear, and his body stronger than he had been letting on. He was alone, and seized the opportunity to leave the green curtain confines. 

“Holy…”

Adrien was in his room. Some furniture was missing, or moved around, and the windows were shuttered tight, but he was in his own bedroom. The hospital bed had not been in a hospital after all.

Adrien started shaking. What was going on here? What did that Akuma do to him? He knew he had used his cataclysm. He remembered the beeping of his ring. He remembered a woman with black armor, and re.d goggles. She had aimed something a Ladybug.

Adrien’s heart started racing. He dropped to his knees.

“Adrien?” he could hear someone calling him from the other side of the curtain. He knew that voice. He didn’t catch on before, but it was easier when he wasn’t looking at her worry-lined face, and short hair.

“Ladybug? I’m in my bedroom, Ladybug! What’s going on?”

The caretaker rushed to the boy’s side. 

”Oh, Adrien”

“What’s going on, Ladybug? You are really her, aren’t you?”

The woman looked conflicted to a moment, then her eyes set, and she nodded.  
“You can call me…Mary”.

Adrien passed out, the last thing he focused on before his vision turned black were the sad blue-bell eyes of the 29 year old caretaker who held him in her arms.

After a few more bed-ridden days, during which Mary never left his side, Adrien was finally able to get the story of what happened.

“The akuma had called herself Cicada Magi. She had been a lonely young woman, who had collected and studied insects, and had no friends. The akuma Cicada Magi was wearing a black exo-suit, and had red goggles. She was spitting out a fluid, and had already hit several people. One of them was Rose, and another was Aurore. The victim had been blonde with fair skin herself, and was targeting people who resembled herself. She said that she was creating her own brood.”

Adrien was starting to remember. 

“She encased people in a sticky sack thing, right? I remember using He remembered something else.

“Oh no, those people, they were unconscious when I broke them out!”

Mary nodded. Her eyes were starting to look glassy again.

“You were always throwing yourself in front of me, kitty.”

Adrien looked into Mary’s blue eyes. He knew this woman was Ladybug. He knew it without any doubt. He knew that her face was lined more, and that his fathers hair had thinned. He knew his hands were larger. After several weeks of being able to eat solid food, and being able to shower in his own bathroom, he knew what was wrong.

“How long did it take you to defeat Cicada Magi, my lady?”

Mary gave a small smile, and answered, her voice barely above a whisper.

“13 years. And my real name is Marinette”.


End file.
